A septuagenarian who weathered many hardships props up a stretch of blue sky through entrepreneurship
On April 9, the elderly Cheng Shilian was picking tea in the tea garden.
On April 10, Ge Zhiyou (right), manager of Huoshan County Mingyuan Tea Tree Improved Variety Development Co., Ltd., was diagnosing problems with the tea seedlings for the elderly woman. Moved by the elderly woman's entrepreneurial spirit, Ge Zhiyou always comes whenever called, driving from dozens of kilometers away to the elderly woman's tea seedling garden to teach her techniques free of charge.
On April 10, the elderly Cheng Shilian was working in the tea seedling garden.
On April 9, Liu Cong (right), a sophomore at West Anhui University, used his weekend time to travel dozens of kilometers to the remote mountains to visit the elderly Cheng Shilian. The story of the elderly Cheng Shilian's entrepreneurship moved many people, who extended helping hands one after another, but the elderly woman declined donations.
Cheng Shilian, 76, of Niujiaochong Village, Hengshan Town, Huoshan County, Anhui Province, depended on each other with her son after her husband passed away. In 2014, her only son, 49, who had bone marrow cancer, left her, leaving behind more than 200,000 yuan in medical debt. Facing the huge debt, Cheng Shilian resolutely decided to start a business to increase income and repay the debt. In 2013, she contracted wasteland and began cultivating tea seedlings. Due to lack of experience, the tea seedlings withered and died one by one. However, misfortune never comes alone: in 2015, her daughter-in-law Wu Huaqing was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Cheng Shilian borrowed more than 20,000 yuan for her daughter-in-law's surgery.
Facing her ill-fated life, Cheng Shilian did not lose heart. She traveled dozens of kilometers to a tea seedling improved variety base to learn techniques, and succeeded in growing tea seedlings. More than 30,000 tea seedlings were snapped up by tea farmers from surrounding villages and townships. In 2016, she contracted more than 4 mu of mountain land and established a tea seedling cultivation base. Led by her, more than 200 neighboring village households came one after another to Cheng Shilian's home to order tea seedlings, open up tea gardens, increase income and become better off.
Now the elderly Cheng Shilian cares for her daughter-in-law's treatment and recovery while tending her own tea seedling cultivation base. At present, after 6 rounds of chemotherapy, her daughter-in-law Wu Huaqing's condition is stable. She said that after she recovers, she wants to work with her mother-in-law to make the tea seedling cultivation base bigger, build a brand, pay off the debt as soon as possible, and fulfill her mother-in-law's wish.